Does Cotopaxi really exist?
Trip Start
Aug 03, 2006
1
14
75
Trip End
Dec 13, 2006
Where I stayed
Hostal Tilipulo
Latacunga, Ecuador
Friday, August 18, 2006
Upon arriving, we wandered around the town for a bit, then went for a drink at the "Cowboy" Karaoke! It was a little sleazy, but perfect for Steveīs club singing rendition of "I Just Called To Say I Love You"! (Steve: You'd have been impressed Julia, I also managed to squeeze in a rendition of "La Flaca" in Spanish. Both songs were sung appallingly.) Russel, Ellie, Caroline and the two of us got quite into the singing and it was a good thing that the bar was dead or else we would have cleared the room! Not too much fun was had though because we were to hike up the base of the Cotopaxi volcano the next day!
Woke up early today and met our guide Javier. First stop was the animal market in Saquisili. It was crazy; the villagers wake up at 3am to walk down from the hills and bring their livestock down to market. You can see them walking their pigs / cows / sheep with them squealing behind. The chicken market made us think of becoming vegetarian because there were bunches of chickens with their legs tied together hanging upside down. No worse than the battery farmed stuff we eat at home though. The fruit, veg and spice market was Tara's favourite. It was for locals so you didn't get approached and hassled every few seconds. The whole market experience made us think twice about shopping at big supermarkets!
After the market we then got driven up to the base of Cotopaxi. We found it difficult to hike at the high altitude - we started at 4000m and then went up to 4300m (around 13,000 feet!). We couldn't see the volcano because of the horrible weather but Javier assured us it was there.
A bit of unexpected news this morning - we found out that the Tungurahua volcano had erupted overnight with some quite devastating effects. See here and here for the news articles. It just so happens the worst effected area is where we plan on heading next, so we spent the afternoon trying to figure out our action plan, do we head back to Quito and fly south directly to Cuenca over the affected area or wait until the roads are opened and bus it down? Decisions, decisions...
DAILY FACTS
- Stayed at: Hostal Tilipulo - Nice enough but bed was a little uncomfortable and squeaked! Can arrange tours for you - ours wasn't that good. Recommended.
- Latin American Spanish learnt:Llantas = Pneumaticos = Tyres. Also "Tengo que dar la mano a mi mejor amigo" for when you wish to excuse yourself for a wee (works for men only!).
- Observation: Ecuadorian bus drivers love Jean-Claude Van Damme films. We've seen one on most long bus journeys so far!
Comments
La Flaca!
Absolutely loving the blogs Steve and Tara, although am sooo jealous as everything sounds fantastic. V proud of the La Flaca rendition wish I'd been there to hear it!! Am sure there were a few Spanish dance moves going on too :-)
Keep thinking of us working back here in very miserable London (- it is cold and wet!!) and keep up the good blogs.
Sigh...
Fond memories AGAIN reading through all your tales... you will like Cuenca, fantastic architecture/churches etc, and you'll notice a distinct difference in their accents down there, they sing like canaries apparently....
Great travel info
Hi Steve and Tara - great hearing about your travel exploits, especially as Brook will be heading down South on October 18th - valuable travel tips for him. He was talking about hitch hiking some of the time and I'd like your thoughts on that. My reccommendation is a resounding NO. He's more likely to listen to the expert travellers though. Keep up the news and photos, we love it. Meryl